UFC Qatar: Tsarukyan vs Hooker - Nov 22 🇶🇦

[wandshogun09]

Off we go to Qatar. Fast approaching…

ESPN MAIN CARD
Arman Tsarukyan vs Dan Hooker 

Belal Muhammad vs Ian Garry 

Volkan Oezdemir vs Alonzo Menifield 

Myktybek Orolbai vs Jack Hermansson

Waldo Cortes Acosta vs Shamil Gaziev 

Tagir Ulanbekov vs Kyoji Horiguchi

ESPN+/FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Luke Riley vs Bogdan Grad 

Nicolas Dalby vs Saygid Izagakhmaev

Alex Perez vs Asu Almabayev 

Rafael Cerqueira vs Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev

Bekzat Almakhan vs Aleksandre Topuria 

Ismail Naurdiev vs Ryan Loder 

Nurullo Aliev vs Shem Rock

Denzel Freeman vs Marek Bujlo 

 

Quality card that. One of the better Fight Nights we’ve had this year easy. Strong main and co-main combo, the return of Kyoji Horiguchi and a bunch of interesting UFC debuts in Liverpool’s Luke Riley and Shem Rock plus Yakhyaev and Izagakhmaev. Pretty solid card overall. Oh and it doesn’t hurt that we’re getting a nice early start time again. From what I’m reading the prelims get underway at 3pm with the main card kicking off at 6pm. Nice.

 

Arman Tsarukyan vs Dan Hooker headlines. Really good fight, although feels a bit weird considering Tsarukyan really should be challenging for the title in my opinion. He was already supposed to fight for the title back in January but injury took him out and he’s ranked #2 currently at Lightweight, only behind the champion Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev who’s up at Welterweight now. By process of elimination it can only mean Topuria is gonna defend against either Justin Gaethje or Paddy Pimblett next. Tsarukyan having to take a fight with #7 ranked Hooker in the meantime isn’t ideal but what can he do? He’s already been inactive for about 18 months. Dana’s confirmed recently that this will be a #1 contender fight but, again, kind of bollocks if you’re Tsarukyan and you already earned that title shot. Oh well. Should be a good fight.

So yeah, Tsarukyan was supposed to challenge Islam Makhachev for the strap at UFC 311 in January but a back injury forced him out. I was really looking forward to that fight. It was a rematch of their 2019 fight in Russia, which was Tsarukyan’s UFC debut at just 22 years old. Enough time had passed to where that rematch was a fascinating one for me, but it wasn’t to be. The UFC had to cobble together a replacement and Makhachev ended up steamrolling Renato Moicano instead. My hope was that Makhachev vs Tsarukyan 2 would get rescheduled later in the year but Makhachev wound up moving up to 170 and now Topuria’s the champ at 155. Cool. Topuria vs Tsarukyan is a great fight too. Problem is, Dana threw a bit of a tantrum when Tsarukyan pulled out in January and for some reason, even though loads of fighters pull out injured and get rebooked, it seems it was an unforgivable offence when Tsarukyan did it and Dana’s seemed hesitant to give him a shot ever since. Tsarukyan even weighed in as the official backup for the Topuria vs Oliveira fight in June, so you’d think that would all but confirm he’d be next in line. But no. Dana shot it down after Topuria iced Oliveira. Even though Tsarukyan had just weighed in as the backup? Shite. Tsarukyan just turned 29 in October, he’s still got time. But it seems pretty clear he’s not a favourite of the UFC big wigs behind the scenes.

Big opportunity for Dan Hooker here. I suspect he’ll be the underdog going in and, at 35 years old and after all the wars, rightly so. But one thing about him is he’s always game. He’s tough, he’s scrappy and he’s coming in with some momentum having won his last three fights and winning back-to-back bangers over Jalin Turner and Mateusz Gamrot. Like Tsarukyan though, he’s been on the shelf for a while. That last fight against Gamrot was in August 2024. So 15 months since his last fight now. He was supposed to fight Gaethje at UFC 313 in March, which would’ve been fucking incredible, but had to withdraw due to a broken hand. With Gaethje now making noises about retiring, I think the Gaethje vs Hooker ship has probably sailed sadly. Can’t see it ever happening now. I don’t see Hooker getting the win here but this is his chance, most likely his last chance, to get himself in a position to finally challenge for UFC gold. He doesn’t seem to like Tsarukyan very much…

“I don’t like his face. I don’t like that his face is attached to his body and I would love to separate the two. I don’t like the bloke. I don’t know anything about him but I hate everything he stands for. I can’t wait to elbow him in the nose.” - Dan Hooker

What? “I don’t know anything about him but I hate everything he stands for”. How does that even work? Nobody ever accused Hooker of being smart. He comes out with some weird shit. Tsarukyan seems unfazed by the trash talk…

“It’s not personal, it’s business. In real life, he’s gonna shut his mouth and he won’t say anything about me. If it’s media or a lot of people, of course, he can do something. He knows media and security are going to be there. He’s gonna behave like a hooker. He’s like that with cameras because he knows nobody’s gonna touch him. I just got to be focused because I’m going to have 25 minutes to beat his ass. I’m gonna see him in Qatar.” - Arman Tsarukyan

Looking forward to this. Even though I don’t think it’s the fight that necessarily should be happening now, for all the reasons I’ve gone into above, but it’s a good fight all the same. And at this point I’m just happy to see these two getting back in there after long spells on the sidelines. It’s been a bit of an odd year in the Lightweight division with Makhachev relinquishing the belt and moving up, Topuria winning the vacant belt and then the lack of movement and activity at the top end of the division lately. There was a point recently where there wasn’t one Lightweight in the Top 15 who had a fight booked. Insane. I think part of it is on the UFC, I feel like they’re probably holding Topuria back to headline a card in early 2026 when the Paramount deal kicks off. But so many of these guys were just sitting out. It’s good to see the division is finally getting moving again. As for the fight itself, I can’t see past a Tsarukyan win myself. Hooker’s gonna bring it and you can never fully count a fighter like him out. But I feel like this is an uphill battle for him style-wise.

 

Belal Muhammad vs Ian Garry is a very good co-main event, especially for a Fight Night. Not sure how exciting it’ll be to actually watch but it’s an interesting fight between two high ranked guys in the Welterweight division. I like it. Apparently this is only a three round fight though. Thought it’d be five but Belal’s saying Garry didn’t want five rounds, that he refused to take the fight unless it was three rounds and that he’s a “coward” for ducking five. Who knows? Belal talks some bollocks at times but it does seem like Garry’s become a bit picky with matchups lately. Not even knocking him. He took the gamble last year stepping in against Shavkat on short notice and lost. So maybe he’s actively being more risk-averse as a result of that. But between Sean Brady claiming Garry ducked him and now Belal saying this stuff, it does seem like there might to be something to it.

That’s how we last saw Belal. Losing the title to Jack Della Maddalena in Montreal in May, and getting his face smashed to bits in the process. Belal was tough enough to survive and go the distance and it was an entertaining fight to watch. But it was a rough loss for Belal and one I’m not sure how he’s gonna bounce back from at 37 years old. Him winning the belt from Leon Edwards was impressive but it did always feel like he wouldn’t go on a long run as champ to me. I didn’t think his reign would end that fast though, his first defence, and I didn’t see Maddalena being the one to end it. But here we are.

“You talked. You begged. You pleaded. You tweeted. You made stupid videos. We obliged. Ian Garry, I’m going to see you in Qatar. Let’s see if you back up all the talk. Let’s see if you’re ready for it. You’ve never been in the cage with anybody like me. You’ve never seen anybody like me and on November 22, you’re going to be broken like you’ve never been broken before.”

“All these other guys want to wait, sit out, do nothing. Me and Ian are ready to fight. I think it’s the number one contender fight. It’s the biggest fight in the division other than the title fight. I haven’t lost in six years. I hate to be reminded of it but I’m going to keep looking at it, thinking about it. I’m not going to have that taste in my mouth again. I’m never going to experience that again. Ian Garry, you picked the wrong guy. You picked the wrong date. November 22, the future’s not bright. See you soon, boy.” - Belal Muhammad

I get him trying to position himself as the nailed on number one contender with a win here but I’m not sure about that at all. For one, Maddalena put a beating on him. It wasn’t a controversial defeat in any way. On top of that, I think Sean Brady could be next if he wins at MSG the week before this card. There’s also Shavkat if he ever returns. The winner of Leon vs Prates could even get in the mix. Not to mention if Makhachev wins the title at MSG and they somehow do him and Topuria at 170. Sounds crazy but we live in crazy times. I wouldn’t rule anything out anymore. I just can’t see the matchmakers being in a hurry to put Belal in another title fight anytime soon.

Ian Garry’s coming off a solid but unspectacular points win over Carlos Prates in their Kansas City main event back in April. It was a bit of a weird one though. Garry clearly won and was kind of schooling Prates through the first three rounds but then seemed to fall to bits towards the end of the fourth and was kind of hanging on for dear life in the fifth. Thinking back to that fight, maybe that’s why Garry didn’t fancy five rounds here against Belal. He didn’t hold up too well down the stretch against Prates. Fortunately for him he’d already built up enough of a lead on the scorecards that he still got the decision but it wasn’t a great look and almost felt like his stock went down even in victory. The funny thing is, he suffered his first loss against Shavkat in his previous fight and his stock seemed to go up more in defeat there than it did after he won against Prates. We’ll see how this goes but it’s a tough style matchup on paper. As always, he’s had a lot to say.

“I’m going to finish Belal Muhammad. That is my goal. That is my single focus of this fight, I want to go out there and leave it unquestionable that I’m the single greatest welterweight walking this planet. I would like to think it’s not going to get past the second. I want to finish him. I want to make it violent. I want to put that exclamation mark on it like I am the best welterweight on the planet right now. I want everybody to see that I’m the best welterweight walking the planet.” - Ian Garry

OK then. Talks a big game and keeps trying to hammer home the point that he’s the “best welterweight walking the planet”, it’s almost like he’s trying to convince himself. Like he’s trying to talk it into existence. But if there’s any truth to the talk that he swerved the Brady fight and that he specifically put a condition on this Belal fight that it had to be three rounds, it doesn’t seem like he’s as confident deep down as he’s making out. Time will tell, I guess, but I’m not buying the tough talk from either of these two. Both banging on about violence and going for the finish but, let’s be honest, the safe bet is that this is going the distance, Belal’s probably gonna try and grind it out and Garry’s gonna fuck about at long range pot shotting. I hope I’m proven wrong and they go out there and have a surprise corker, but I think they’re “selling wolf tickets”, as Nick Diaz would say.

 

Volkan Oezdemir vs Alonzo Menifield isn’t terrible but it’s not doing much for me. Both have been floundering for years. Hard to believe in 2025 that Oezdemir actually challenged for the Light Heavyweight title way back when Daniel Cormier was champ. That feels like an absolute lifetime ago now, doesn’t it? He’s 36 now, 20-8 and coming off a lacklustre decision loss to Carlos Ulberg on the Macau card last November. So a year layoff. To be fair, he showed in his fight before that that he can still thump when he brutally flattened Johnny Walker. But Walker gets KO’d by sharp wind and the Ulberg loss just showed once again where Oezdemir’s limit is. Menifield’s no better. He’s 38 years old, 17-5-1 and has faltered every time he’s stepped up a level. He’s coming off a couple of decision wins here and he did just hand Oumar Sy his first loss in June. Ahh, it’s inoffensive enough. Not feeling it but it’s OK midcard Fight Night filler.

 

Myktybek Orolbai vs Jack Hermansson could be fun. Don’t really know what to expect but Orolbai’s been a treat to watch so far in the UFC. He’s quickly became an undercard highlight for me in a short space of time. He’s from Kyrgyzstan, 27 years old despite looking about 75, trains with Team Alpha Male and he’s 14-2-1 with 12 of his wins not making it to the scorecards. He made his UFC debut in late 2023, almost twisting Uros Medic’s head off with a nasty neck crank, beat Elves Brener in a entertaining scrap in Rio, lost a split decision against Mateusz Rebecki in a crazy bloodbath, then most recently he subbed Tofiq Musayev in a round on the Azerbaijan card in June.

Mad bastard. Never a dull moment. Really enjoyed watching him so far. Sweden’s Hermansson is 37 years old now with a record of 24-9 and 17 finishes. Been knocking around for years and he’s had the occasional moment. He’s beat the likes of Jacare Souza, Kelvin Gastelum, Edmen Shahbazyan, Chris Curtis and Joe Pyfer over the years in the UFC. Problem is those wins have always been accompanied by a loss either side of them. He’s been on a win one/lose one streak since 2019! He lost last time so, on that form, he’s due a win here. But I don’t know. He got viciously knocked out by Gregory Rodrigues in June and I get the feeling that might’ve been the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as his durability goes. At 37, he’d have been on borrowed time anyway but a loss like that at this stage is just brutal. And against a tough as fuck bulldog a decade his junior? This feels like bad news for ‘Joker’ Jack to me. We’ll see. Hopefully it’s a good fight either way.

 

Waldo Cortes Acosta vs Shamil Gaziev has been thrown together last minute. Was supposed to be Gaziev against Serghei Spivac but Spivac pulled out just days before the show. I wasn’t in love with that original fight and Waldo jumping in has done nothing to increase my excitement but whatever. Gaziev’s Bahraini/Russian, 35 years old and 14-1. The only loss was to Rozenstruik in early 2024, in what I remember being one of the worst main events in Apex history. And that’s saying something, isn’t it?! Since then he’s won a decision over the mighty Don’Tale Mayes and then he knocked out Thomas Petersen in a round on the Saudi card in February. Waldo’s Dominican and 15-2 with 8 finishes. I’ve moaned about him a few times on here. He’s had some proper dull fights in the UFC and I’ve never enjoyed watching him. Still, we’re at the point now where he’s ranked #6 at Heavyweight, which is a damning indictment on the state of Heavyweight MMA in 2025 in itself. He has had a few big knockouts in the UFC but he’s had some absolute rotters that sit more in the forefront of my memory when I think of him. He’s coming off that weird first round KO win over Ante Delija at the Apex at the start of November. The one where he got poked in the eye, then he got TKO’d, then the fight was restarted and he knocked out Delija. Just a shitshow all round that one. So a quick turnaround here for Waldo. Not expecting much from this. 

 

Tagir Ulanbekov vs Kyoji Horiguchi is gonna be ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** on this bad boy. And it’s solely because it’s the return to the UFC for Horiguchi. This fight was actually supposed to go down on the Azerbaijan card back in June but Horiguchi pulled out. Now it’s back on. It’s a weird one because the fight itself isn’t one I’m in love with. I think I said when the fight was originally announced for the Azerbaijan card that Ulanbekov wouldn’t have been my choice of opponent for Guch’s first fight back. To be honest, I’d have had no problem with them just throwing him straight into a title fight with Pantoja. Sod it. They did it with Kai Asakura and I kind of like the idea of champions from other promotions coming into the UFC to try to knock Pantoja off the throne. But the matchmakers seem determined to do this fight so here we are.

It’ll be nice to see Horiguchi back in the UFC. It’s a return I never really expected to happen, with Horiguchi now 35 years old, I thought the ship had sailed. Especially because when Asakura made the jump last year, the rumour then was that Horiguchi was gonna jump as well. When it didn’t happen then I thought that was it. But in March, it was made official. Horiguchi made the announcement that he was vacating the RIZIN Flyweight belt and would be returning to the UFC. His previous UFC stint lasted from 2013 to 2016 and he went an impressive 7-1 in that run with the only defeat coming against some fella named Demetrious.

Only the Flyweight GOAT. Now that’s a fight I wanna revisit. Barely remember it now. It was all the way back in 2015 and my memory is very hazy on it. All I do remember is Mighty Mouse subbed him by armbar at 4:59 of the 5th round! Yep. One second to go. The submission version of Holloway vs Gaethje. Horiguchi won three fights after that and then parted ways with the UFC. Unusual for a fighter to leave on wins and I remember that being a talking point and a bit of a surprise at the time. I wanna say Horiguchi opted to not sign a new deal and wanted to return to Japan but I can’t recall the details. I don’t think the UFC binned him anyway. In the years since he left the UFC he’s gone 16-3-1, won the RIZIN Grand Prix, held Bantamweight gold in both RIZIN and Bellator and was RIZIN’s first Flyweight champ. Wins over the likes of Hideo Tokoro, Manel Kape, Ian McCall, Kai Asakura and Sergio Pettis to name a few. He’s done alright for himself.

Ulanbekov is an afterthought for me here. My interest in this fight is all wrapped up in Horiguchi coming back, the opponent is almost irrelevant. But Ulanbekov isn’t a bad fighter. He’s 34 years old with a very respectable 17-2 record and trains under Khabib and alongside the likes of Islam Makhachev and Umar and Usman Nurmagomedov. The knock on him is he’s lost a lot of time with injuries and layoffs. He’s been on the UFC roster since 2020 and has gone 6-1 in that time. Not the most active. The only loss was to Tim Elliott in what I remember being a cracking fight. Since then he’s on a four fight winning streak. He has actually fought twice already this year, taking decisions off Clayton Carpenter and Azat Maksum. So if he makes it to the cage here and completes three fights in one year it’ll be a minor miracle. I think Horiguchi should win. Even an older Horiguchi. But it’s worth taking into account that he hasn’t fought since December 2024 himself. Nearly a full year on the shelf as a 35 year old Flyweight is never ideal. Hopefully he gets it done.

 

Luke Riley vs Bogdan Grad has my attention. One of two very interesting and noteworthy Octagon debuts from the UK on this card. Been hearing and reading Luke Riley’s name a fair bit over the last year or so. He’s from Liverpool, 26 years old and undefeated at 11-0 with 8 coming by KO/TKO and all of them under the Cage Warriors banner. At one point he was supposed to fight on DWCS but it never ended up happening.

He’s also a teammate of Paddy Pimblett and from what I’ve read Paddy’s been pushing for the UFC to pick him up for a while. Can’t say I’ve actually seen Riley fight yet. Might have to dig around for some of his fights before this card. But I’ve heard good things and the reaction to his signing was positive.

“Paddy is like a big brother to me. He’s one of the lads. Me and him, we act the same, no bullshit, we’re real. People give Paddy shit all the time but that’s how he is. He’s real, not fake. He’s not putting on an act, that’s how he is. He’s one of my best mates. We’re both going far.” - Luke Riley

I want to like him but him saying him and Paddy “act the same” isn’t filling me with hope. Also, saying Paddy’s “real, not putting on an act” doesn’t make Paddy any more endearing. I already believed he was being himself. Unfortunately ‘himself’ is a twat. Regardless, I’ll give Riley a chance. He definitely sounds like a good signing. The matchmakers aren’t exactly doing him any favours. Grad is a tough first fight in on paper. There’s been a lot of valid criticism about how they matched Paddy up to get him up the ladder but it seems they’re not going that route with Riley. Austria’s Grad is 30 years old and 15-3 with 12 finishes. Stopped Lucas Alexander in his debut then lost a decision to Muhammad Naimov last time out. No world beater but he’s certainly not someone you give to a prospect if you’re trying to feed them a pushover soft debut. Should be a legit test for Riley.

 

Nicolas Dalby vs Saygid Izagakhmaev is another one that’s caught my eye. Another debut that looks pretty interesting. Izagakhmaev is Russian, 34 years old and 22-2 with 16 of his fights not requiring the judges. Not a ton stands out on his record but he did score a first round stoppage over Shinya Aoki on a ONE card back in 2022. Hasn’t fought MMA since then though so the timing of them signing him feels strange. Dalby’s a tough guy but he’s coming off a horrible knockout loss against Randy Brown in April. Seriously, one of the nastiest knockouts of the year for me. Dalby completely face planted. He’s coming off back-to-back losses and he turns 41 just a few days before this fight. If he takes another loss here, especially against a guy coming off a three year layoff, you have to think that it’s time to call it a day.

 

Alex Perez vs Asu Almabayev. I’m not gonna bother typing much about this because it’s Perez and who knows if this actually even ends up happening? Seriously, he’s probably had just as many fight cancellations as he’s had actual fights at this point. If it happens it could be good though. Pretty rare you see a bad Flyweight fight. Perez is 25-9 and has gone 1-4 in his last 5. Safe to say he badly needs a win right about now. He’s coming off a long layoff after suffering that knee injury in the Tatsuro Taira fight last year though so who knows what we’re getting here? If he even shows up. Kazakhstan’s Almabayev’s decent. He’s 22-3, only loss in the UFC so far was against Manel Kape and he’s since bounced back with a points win over Jose Ochoa in July.

 

Rafael Cerqueira vs Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev. Going in blind on this. I’ve seen Cerqueira but don’t remember much at all about him. He’s 35 years old, 11-3 with 8 finishes and he’s fought three times in the UFC, going 0-3, and was stopped in two of them. Rough game. Came into the UFC unbeaten, now he’s doing nothing but lose. Yakhyaev is making his Octagon debut here. He’s 24 years old, Russian born but fights out of Turkey and he’s 7-0 with 6 not making it to the scorecards. Had a quick glance at his record and I don’t recognise any of the names on there, so it’s always pinch of salt stuff with these guys. But he’s young and early enough in his career that we’re gonna find out soon whether he’s the real deal anyway. Worth keeping an eye on.

 

Bekzat Almakhan vs Aleksandre Topuria could potentially be a sneaky good fight that might go under the radar a bit. I’ve seen limited footage of both but I’ve seen enough that I wanna see more. And against each other, I’m intrigued. Almakhan is from Kazakhstan, 28 years old and 12-2 with 11 finishes. He made his UFC debut last March against Umar Nurmagomedov of all people. Talk about a baptism of fire. He went the distance with Umar and I seem to recall he briefly wobbled him at one point but overall he got his arse wrestled off. He was out injured for over a year after that but came back in style on the Montreal PPV in May, knocking out Brad Katona about a minute into their fight. He’s up against Ilia Topuria’s lesser known brother Aleksandre.

He’s 29 years old with a 6-1 record and has barely been active in the decade since he turned pro. In recent years I think it’s mostly been because he’s been focused on helping Ilia in his camps. Guram Kutateladze described Aleksandre as “the brain behind the team” or something. He made his own UFC debut back in February though, beating Colby Thicknesse on points in a decent little fight. He looked alright from what I remember. Although I didn’t know much about Thicknesse and Thicknesse had also stepped in on short notice so it was hard to properly rate the performance. They’re throwing him into a difficult fight here with Almakhan though so we’ll see what he’s about soon enough, I guess.

 

Ismail Naurdiev vs Ryan Loder is just there. Just a making up the numbers slot filler. ‘The Austrian Wonderboy’ Naurdiev is 29 years old with a record of 24-8 and 20 finishes. I’m not sure why he was brought back to the UFC really. He had a previous stint in the UFC in 2019/20, went 2-2 and was let go after a loss to Sean Brady. He went away and fought in the Brave promotion and only managed to go 4-3, yet they rehired him last year. Bit of an odd one. Since then he’s won a decision off what appears to be a shot Bruno Silva, then lost a decision to Jun Yong Park in June. Loder’s 34 years old, 7-2 and coming off getting steamrolled in a round by Azamat Bekoev in May. Nowt to see here.

 

Nurullo Aliev vs Shem Rock is another fight featuring a debut that stands out. Like Luke Riley, I’ve been seeing the name Shem Rock doing the rounds for a bit now. He’s another teammate of Paddy Pimblett and his UFC arrival felt like just a matter of time. I never knew much about him but looked him up a few months ago because I was curious why I kept hearing his name. Turns out he’s got quite a story.

As best I can tell, he got arrested at 19 in connection with a burglary, which he denies any involvement in, got questioned and released on bail but then was told his release was a mistake and he’d have to return to custody. So he went on the run. For ten years. Fled Liverpool and wound up in France and even as far away as Malaysia. Got hooked on BJJ during this time and ended up taking some amateur MMA fights. Turned pro, almost signed with ONE but they found out he was a fugitive and backed off. Then he ended up back in Europe. In the end, he was found not guilty of the initial burglary that started all this madness and wound up training with Paddy. Fuck me. I think that’s everything. Although surely him going on the run would’ve gotten him some kind of punishment in itself? Whatever.

He’s 32 years old now and 12-1-1 with 11 inside the distance, mostly submissions. He ended up in the Oktagon promotion and did pretty well for himself. Went to a draw in his debut but then rattled off three straight first round submissions before winning a split decision in his last fight in May.

“I feel like I’ve done it all in Oktagon. There was nothing left for me, and the guys with the belts didn’t wanna fight me. Look at the rankings, nobody can say I wasn’t the number one guy like I said from the start. Now I’m gonna prove it in the UFC. I rise to the big occasions. I’m probably more nervous fighting in a sports hall with nobody there. Big stadiums - that’s what motivates me, that’s what gets me out of bed and keeps me hungry in the gym. I love going into someone else’s backyard and fighting them on their home turf with everyone booing me. I love being the underdog.”

“I’m gonna go on a fucking tear, smash everyone’s head in, get the bonuses, get the finishes and get on that mic to cause chaos. I’m looking to call everyone out and make this lightweight division great again. All these old men are getting boring. They’re washed out. It’s time for some new blood. In five years, I’ll be UFC champion. That’s where I’ll be.” - Shem Rock

Christ. Well he certainly doesn’t lack self confidence. Talking a big game and making bold predictions. Those quotes could age very badly. I kind of like it though. Whether we like it or not, any division is boosted by throwing a gobshite in the mix. If he’s half as good as he seems to think he is, he could shake things up and ruffle some feathers. Again though, like Riley, they’re not feeding him a gimme for his debut by any means. Tajikistan’s Aliev is 24 years old and undefeated at 10-0. Not a big finisher, 8 of his 10 fights have gone the distance. But from my vague recollection of him, he looked a bit of a handful in his two UFC wins over Rafael Alves and Joe Solecki. He hasn’t been the most active though. The debut against Alves was in early 2023 then he was out for nearly two years before beating Solecki in January. Not ideal. My interest is very much piqued though. I remember Aliev being more of a grappler so that could play right into Shem’s BJJ game. Or maybe Aliev just rags him all over the cage en route to a lopsided decision. Looking forward to this one.

 

Denzel Freeman vs Marek Bujlo. Not a single clue. Both are making their UFC debuts and I’ve never heard of either of them. From a quick bit of looking them up, Freeman’s 34 years old and 6-1 with 5 finishes. Hasn’t beat anyone of note but he’s coming off a TKO win on a LFA card in May and he did lose a decision to Johnny Eblen in the amateurs back in 2016. One little tidbit I found about him though was that he was actually in development for WWE/NXT at some point. And used one of his post-fight interviews to call for a date with Liv Morgan. Don’t blame you, Denz, don’t blame you. Bujlo is Polish, 32 years old and 6-0, all first round finishes, three of them in the first minute and his longest fight so far went 1:42. OK then. Hopefully it’s short and sweet.


 

Get in.

Edited November 21, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Bruce85]

Another excellent post Wand!

 

A very good card but a couple of head scratching bookings. Why Arman is fighting Hooker is beyond me. I’d get if Topuria had a fight booked and Arman wanted to be active but it seems like the top of the division are just sat around with dicks in their hands. Maybe Arman thinks this will be a good warm up fight as he’s been out for ages and will help shake off any cage rust. As we saw with RDR, these fights are risky and with the UFC seemingly doing all the can to stop him getting a title shot, you got to think if he loses this it’s going to be a tough road back into the title picture. 
 

I really don’t get the logic behind the Horiguchi fight either, Pantoja (providing he beats Van) is crying out for new challengers, you have a champ from another promotion returning to the UFC, why waste that low down on the undercard of a fight night. If you aren’t going to give Horiguchi a title shot, at least put him in a decent spot on the card to try and build some momentum and hype a fresh challenger for Pantoja. 
 

I’m doing a solo weekend to Krakow when this is on so might try and find a sports bar to watch it! 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah fully agree on both points. Especially the Horiguchi one for all the reasons you listed there. The only logical explanation I can think of is that maybe Horiguchi himself wanted to get a fight in first before jumping in with the champ because he’s had a bit of a layoff. Otherwise, yeah I’m with you. I’d have just thrown him straight in with Pantoja. Maybe they would’ve done that if Brandon Royval had beaten Josh Van, just because Royval’s already 0-2 down against Pantoja. They might’ve just gone with the fresh Pantoja vs Horiguchi fight then. But Van beating Royval shook things up.

I can only assume Tsarukyan’s got information that Topuria is booked against someone else. I reckon they’ve already got Topuria signed to fight either Gaethje or Pimblett early next year but either can’t or don’t wanna announce it yet because it’s part of the big Paramount deal launch and they’re still currently on ESPN until January. They must have a lot of fights either booked or verbally agreed to that they’re just sitting on right now, just waiting until the ESPN deal is over because they still don’t have one fight officially announced for any date past December and we’re already in mid November. Usually by now there’s been a bunch of fights announced for January and even February.

Got a feeling there’s gonna be one of them Dana videos on New Year’s Day where he’s gonna drop a shit load of fight announcements.

[wandshogun09]

Dan Hooker’s response to finding out Paddy Pimblett is now in the Top 5 at Lightweight in the updated rankings gave me a chuckle…

Really looking forward to this card. The nice early start time always helps but I think it’s a very strong card in its own right. 

[Bruce85]

Not sure how true it is and I’ve only seen it on one TikTok but apparently Spivic is out and Costa-Acosta is stepping in. Not a big fan of him but fair play if it’s true. 
 

Big fight for Garry now, the top of the Welterweight division looking stacked I think he needs a big performance here to get himself in line for a title shot. I don’t think a UD win will be enough. 
 

Great card though! 

[Kfogg1991]

Mate this is how you do a fight night card jesus this main card is good 

And added bonus it starts at 3 in the afternoon for us as well.

I'm hoping for Ian Garry and hooker to get the wins but I'm fully expecting Tsarukyan to do it 

[wandshogun09]

18 hours ago, Bruce85 said:

Not sure how true it is and I’ve only seen it on one TikTok but apparently Spivic is out and Costa-Acosta is stepping in. Not a big fan of him but fair play if it’s true. 

It is true. Been confirmed by Marcel Dorff on Twitter. I’ve updated the opening post with that and the new bout order. They finally moved Horiguchi’s fight to the main card where it always belonged.

Bonus pic of Horiguchi in the UFC kit…

@jimufctna24 where you at son?

7 hours ago, Kfogg1991 said:

I'm hoping for Ian Garry and hooker to get the wins but I'm fully expecting Tsarukyan to do it 

As exciting as Hooker can be, I’m rooting for Tsarukyan myself. Dana’s apparently confirmed that the winner of this fight is the number one contender (although Tsarukyan already is ranked #1 yet still has to ‘earn’ it here, which is shite), I just don’t think Hooker has anything for Topuria. It’s not really an interesting fight to me. Whereas Topuria vs Tsarukyan at least feels like a legit title fight level thing. 

[jimufctna24]

It's great that Kyoji has returned to the UFC and at Flyweight. But his return really should have occurred 4 years ago.

[wandshogun09]

Tsarukyan dropped the nut on Hooker at the weigh in.

He baffles me. It’s like he’s got a self sabotage fetish. He’s been out about 18 months, had to pull out of his title shot in January against Makhachev, clearly isn’t a favourite of Dana and UFC management, finally gets back in action and bags himself a main event spot and Dana finally seems to be softening and confirms the winner of this fight is next in line for a title shot…and he pulls this shit the day before the fight? Wasn’t a full blast headbutt or anything but why do it? Could’ve easily cut Hooker and potentially caused the fight to be binned. Would’ve been a complete waste of a fight camp for both of them and would’ve hurt this card quite badly. And of course Dana would’ve had him right back at the back of the line in the title shot convo as a result. It’s not even like there’s been any real serious bad blood or particularly bad trash talk from Hooker to have instigated it either. 

Edited November 21, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Bruce85]

Arman really isn’t helping himself with that headbutt is he! I didn’t see it but apparently the weigh in looked a bit iffy and they didn’t wait for the scales to settle before taking his weight. 
 

I know it’s better for the division if Arman wins BUT I’m routing for Hooker. I’d give him zero chance against Topuria but I can’t help but route for him. 
 

I said it after his last fight and I’ll say it again, salsa boy is getting that title fight in 2026. The heavyweight division really is the dregs. 

Edited November 21, 2025 by Bruce85

[Carbomb]

I'm rooting for Tsarukyan because I think his match with Topuria will be amazing, even if I don't think he'll win. Also, not a fan of Hooker since that "made of marshmallows" comment. Just dickish. Doesn't necessarily mean I like Tsarukyan - but he seems like more of a hothead than a dick. 

[wandshogun09]

Reminder that this gets underway in about 10 minutes. Might be worth tuning in early for the Shem Rock debut…

[Bruce85]

Arman has to be next then. I’d rather have seen him fight Islam as I think that would have been a really competitive match up but him vs Topuria will do nicely. 
 

I’ve not seen the Garry v Balel fight but im people giving scores all over the place which to me is bad news for Garry. With how Prates and Morels won last week I think Garry needed a dominant win or a KO to get him the next short at the title and from what I’ve read he didn’t do that so who knows who’s next up for Islam. 

If Pantoja beats Van then surely Horiguchi is next in line. I think if Van wins you give Pantoja the rematch. I’m not a fan of immediate rematches but if anyone deserves it, it’s Pantoja. 
 

I hate to keep saying it, but salsa boy is getting that title shot soon. The heavyweight division really is the drizzling shits. 
 

I’ve had several cheap polish beers tonight so after my last drunk presentation of Zhang to KO Shev, feel free to ignore this post. 

[jimufctna24]

I haven't seen the Horiguchi fight, but the Sherdog Play By Play and Twitter noise indicate he fought superbly.

All the speed of his younger days with an improved approach to grappling (didn't give up his back). Excited to see what he does next.

Edited November 23, 2025 by jimufctna24

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, it’s gotta be Topuria vs Tsarukyan after that, right?

Probably the best overall performance of Tsarukyan’s entire UFC run yet for me. He’s beat better names than Dan Hooker and he’s probably had better finishes but, as a complete performance, I don’t think he’s ever looked better than he did last night. Granted some of that was down to the matchup. Hooker’s tough and he’s a scrapper but it always felt like a fight Tsarukyan should win. But still, he looked like a legitimate threat to the title the way he dealt with him here. Just had his way pretty much from the off. Hooker didn’t have any answers for it. Even those desperate guillotine attempts, Tsarukyan was fucking rolling out of them like an alligator. And I don’t think Tsarukyan was about to slow down anytime soon either so it was probably only gonna get worse for Hooker if he survived longer. Tsarukyan was already ranked #1 in the division and was already supposed to challenge for the title back in January. So he really shouldn’t have had to earn it again but this was a performance that’s gonna make him difficult to deny now. He not only dominated but he got the finish.

Easily one of the best fights that can be made in the sport right now. Easily. I was gutted when Makhachev vs Topuria got away from us but Topuria vs Tsarukyan would be incredible in its own right. It’ll be a travesty if we don’t see it in 2026. The Topuria vs Tsarukyan thing seems to be growing legs and bubbling away nicely as well. They’re already having digs at each other based on an interaction they had previously…

A bit of needle certainly won’t do any harm in stirring up interest in the fight but it doesn’t even need it for me. Just picturing how they potentially match up and what a fight between them would look like is enough.

The other options for Topuria next would be Gaethje or Pimblett. The Gaethje thing I could really do without. Love watching Gaethje but I don’t see him having anything for Topuria at this stage and he hasn’t really done enough for a title shot anyway. If there weren’t any better options then fine, I’d take Topuria vs Gaethje. But with the current landscape at 155, nah. Pimblett’s the real obstacle that could possibly scupper a Topuria vs Tsarukyan fight for me. The Tsarukyan fight is way more interesting as an actual matchup of styles and Tsarukyan deserves it more. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Topuria vs Pimblett first. In fact, I think we will. And as much as I think Tsarukyan should be next and Paddy’s smoke and mirrors rise up the ranks with favourable matchmaking is bollocks, I’m actually not against them doing Topuria vs Pimblett first. There’s history there and I think if they don’t do the Pimblett fight now, someone else is gonna beat Paddy and then it’ll probably never happen. You’ve gotta strike while the iron’s hot and I’ve got a feeling they’re planning to launch the Paramount era with a Topuria title defence in January anyway. So Topuria vs Pimblett in January with the winner facing Tsarukyan around May/June time would work nicely. Can’t really lose either way there. If Topuria wrecks Paddy as he should, we get Topuria vs Tsarukyan. And if Paddy somehow pulls it off, Pimblett and Tsarukyan have had a bit of beef as well so that’d be an easy one to hype up. I just feel like we’re currently in that window of time to make the Topuria vs Pimblett fight happen. If they don’t do it, Paddy’s gonna fight one of the other top Lightweights and they’ll close that window for good.

Garry vs Belal was predictably dull. For all both guys’ talk going in about being ‘violent’ and going for the finish, you kind of knew this one was a) going the distance and b) gonna be a bit of a nothing burger. Shame because there was some stakes to this. It feels like the Welterweight title picture is all up in the air at the minute and any of the top guys could firmly position themselves as the next challenger for Makhachev with a big showing. Garry got the win and did his best on the mic after to convince people, and maybe himself, that he’s the man to beat Makhachev but his performance won’t have anyone beating down the doors to see that. Had to laugh at Garry in the post-fight interview saying Belal was “looking for a way out” but then immediately said “but he’s so tough”. Eh? So which is it? It’s like he was looking for an excuse for not finishing him but surely if he was looking for a way out that would’ve made it easier to get him out of there? He was also saying to the media after that him vs Makhachev would be a “better version of Khabib vs McGregor”. Chats some shite that lad.

I’ll give Garry this though, he’s great at getting involved in silly shit that makes people forget about his underwhelming performances. He got into a bit of an altercation with Khamzat backstage after the fight. Nothing major, just some words and Khamzat pushed him before everyone got in between them. It was weird because it started friendly and they were all smiles and handshakes. Then it switched. Definitely seemed like an overreaction or misunderstanding on Khamzat’s side but Garry knows exactly what he’s doing in these situations. He’s constantly approaching fighters he’s talked shit about in the past and he’s always got someone there with a camera rolling, sometimes he brings his kid or wife, and he does that overly nice and matey thing which just feels so fake. It’s like a strange part of his mind games or something but I think a lot of fighters are getting wise to it or sick of it. He did the same to Belal this week before the fight. Went up to Belal while he was eating, camera guy in tow, and started being all friendly after talking smack in the build up. Nothing happened and they were cordial enough but you could tell Belal really didn’t wanna interact with him in that moment. But yeah, I guess it did its job because more people are talking about the Garry vs Khamzat handbags than Garry’s ‘doing the bare minimum’ points win over Belal today.

Volkan Oezdemir absolutely set about Alonzo Menifield and blasted him out of there in brutal fashion…

Not a lot to add to it, it only lasted about 90 seconds. But Oezdemir’s always had a thump on him so it wasn’t really a surprise. Neither of these two are going anywhere at this point and I was kind of dreading sitting through this if it went the distance. Oezdemir wasn’t fucking about though. Nasty finish.

Myktybek Orolbai brought the violence as he always does. Didn’t even realise when I was doing the opening post that Hermansson was dropping down to Welterweight for this. And considering Orolbai was fighting at Lightweight previously and coming up to 170, this was a bit of an odd one. A 155er coming up against a 185er coming down. And the 155er did this…

One of those weird shots around the ear/jawline/neck that does funny things. Hermansson looked great physically at 170 but I can’t help but wonder if cutting the extra weight was a big factor in the quick KO loss here. Hard to see where Hermansson goes from here. This was supposed to be his fresh start in a new weight class and he got ironed out in the first round. This is back-to-back vicious first round knockouts he’s been on the wrong end of as well. At 37 years old, you’ve gotta think the end is near. As for Orolbai, you can chuck him in with anyone and you’re probably gonna get something entertaining out of it. Absolute dog.

Waldo Cortes Acosta then. Fair play, I guess. Stepped in on a few days notice and chinned big slug Gaziev in just over a minute.

Not a great win on its own merit but considering the ridiculously short notice and the fact he’d literally just fought at the start of the month, even I’ve gotta begrudgingly give him his due. He’s become a bit of an unlikely favourite amongst a section of the fanbase now. The Jones arse lickers have adopted him because they got to use his win the other week after an eye poke to shit on Aspinall. So they’re pretending to be Waldo fanboys now. And he has had a couple of finishes recently in a shitty Heavyweight division that doesn’t have much going for it these days. He was ranked #6 going in, so he’ll probably be higher after this. It’s crazy but I think @Bruce85 might be right. We could potentially see Waldo challenge for UFC gold in 2026. That’s the state the division’s in. Actually wouldn’t be surprised if we see an Aspinall vs Waldo fight in the not too distant future anyway. If Gane can’t do the rematch next for whatever reason, there’s probably a good chance Waldo gets the call. Probably look something like this…

In all seriousness, I’m gonna lighten up a bit on ‘Salsa Boy’. I’m still not on this new bandwagon of fans acting like he’s some elite fighter now. It’s amazing how quick people forget but he’s had some of the most rotten fights in recent memory not that long ago. And his recent surge is based solely on wins over Ante Delija and Shamil Gaziev. I still don’t really rate him. But fair’s fair, he’s been very active this year for a Heavyweight and he’s definitely been way less boring in his last couple of fights, albeit against lower level guys. Must admit, this got a chuckle out of me as well…

Waldo saying he wants to get another fight in before the end of the year is mad. That’d be his sixth fight in 2025! Even madder was that he specifically mentioned wanting to fight on the Dec 13th card. At the Apex. Choosing that over 323 a week before? OK then. 

4 hours ago, jimufctna24 said:

I haven't seen the Horiguchi fight, but the Sherdog Play By Play and Twitter noise indicate he fought superbly.

Horiguchi looked quality Jim. Considering he’s 35 years old and was coming off nearly a year on the shelf, he looked sharp as a tack. I was never in love with the choice of Ulanbekov as an opponent but he’s no pushover, was a fair bit bigger than Horiguchi and was on a four fight winning streak. And Horiguchi just outclassed him everywhere.

Was chuffed he got the finish as well. He was well on his way to a decision win anyway but I felt like his re-debut kind of needed the exclamation point of a finish just to make that statement on his return. His post-fight interview was fun as well, calling out Pantoja in broken English. “We are teammates but fight is fight, you know. BUSINESS! AAAAHHH!” 🤣

You know Dana’s gonna love hearing that as well. He hates when teammates refuse to fight each other so I can see him granting Horiguchi the title shot now on that alone as a message to other fighters. Horiguchi should get the shot as well, I reckon. Like I said in the opening post, I’d have been fine with them throwing him straight in with Pantoja as soon as he returned. After this win, it just makes sense. I think Bruce is probably right though, if Van upsets Pantoja at 323 in a couple of weeks they’ll probably do the rematch. If Pantoja retains though, I think Pantoja vs Horiguchi is a no brainer. Great to see Horiguchi back in the UFC. I feared it might be a bit too late, especially given the layoff, but his performance last night was really encouraging. Probably still favour Pantoja if they meet but it’s a cracking fight. About as good a fight as you can make at 125 right now for me.

Luke Riley had pretty much the ideal UFC debut. Came in with buzz and delivered on it big time. Beautiful finish.

Not sure where his ceiling will be but it’s gonna be fun to find out. Wherever he settles in the pecking order, he looks like a very solid addition to the Featherweight division. Couldn’t have really made a better first impression than that.

Nice to see Nicolas Dalby rebound from that horrible face-plant KO defeat to Randy Brown with a win here. Izagakhmaev sounded like a decent signing and it kind of felt like the matchmakers booked this fight with the intention of using 41 year old Dalby as a stepping stone for the debuting Russian. Wasn’t a great fight to watch though.

Asu Almabayev had a sweet guillotine finish over Alex Perez. Wasn’t paying mega close attention scoring-wise but I felt like he was on his way to losing on points so he pulled that sub out right when he needed it in that last round. Not a huge fan of Almabayev but it was a cool finish.

Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev had a nice UFC debut, just breezing through Rafael Cerqueira with a 30 second submission. Nothing to really take away from the win itself. The fight was too short to get a read on it and Cerqueira isn’t much cop anyway. But a squash match in your Octagon debut never hurts. Hopefully we get a better look at him next time.

Really enjoyed the Aleksandre Topuria vs Bekzat Almakhan fight. Kind of went under the radar for me going in but it turned out to be a really good, fast paced fight. Topuria’s never gonna reach the heights of his brother’s success but I rate him a little bit more after this. Going into his UFC debut in February, I’d never seen him fight and I wasn’t familiar with Colby Thicknesse either, so it was one of those fights where it’s hard to rate the performance. Almakhan’s a solid little fighter though and Topuria looked really good against him. Looking forward to seeing more of him next year. Him being more active now than he was earlier in his career is probably the key.

Ismail Naurdiev absolutely wasted Ryan Loder early on the prelims.

I was barely even watching this. My daughter was showing me something on her phone and I looked up at the TV just in time to see Loder get waffled into oblivion.

And Nurullo Aliev shat all over any buzz there was around Shem Rock’s UFC debut. Christ. This went the total opposite to Luke Riley’s debut later in the night. In fairness, Aliev was always a really tough assignment for him his first night in. I was kind of surprised they matched him up so tough immediately like this. Shem Rock was tough but clearly lacks in the striking and Aliev won clearly on points.

Didn’t see the Denzel Freeman vs Marek Bujlo curtain jerker and it sounds like I missed nothing. I won’t be going back to that one, sounded like a stinker. 


Yeah, really good card overall. Only thing that fell really flat for me was the Garry vs Belal fight but it’s not like I went into that one with expectations of a banger or anything. Aside from that we got a bunch of cool finishes, some great individual performances, a standout debut from Riley and Tsarukyan making a strong statement in the main event which will hopefully be the start of the Lightweight title picture finally getting moving again in early 2026.

Edited November 23, 2025 by wandshogun09